TALK RADIO WATCH

Who you calling a conservative?

Exclusive: Kathy Shaidle breaks down airwave debates on who's 'right'

Kathy Shaidle is a blogging pioneer whose FiveFeetOfFury.com is now in its 12th year. Her most recent book â€“ "The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights, and Why It Matters to Americans" â€“ features an introduction by Rush Limbaugh guest host Mark Steyn.

Morgan adds, “I was about to take a gratuitous shot at the liberals who wrote me with colorful death wishes – but screw it! I’m in a good mood and I don’t want to wreck it. I’ve got a lot of living to do!”

One of those speakers is J.D. Hayworth, who recently left his talk show on KFYI in Phoenix to challenge John McCain for the U.S. Senate.

WND founder and publisher Joseph Farah endorsed Hayworth’s candidacy “unequivocally,” saying, “He’s the best hope Republicans have of holding on to that Senate seat in November. McCain is yesterday’s news.

“He’s been there too long,” Farah said of McCain. “He’s become comfortable in Washington. And he’s especially too cozy with the other party – the one on the verge of bankrupting America.

“Hayworth tells it like it is,” Farah concluded.

Rush Limbaugh

“I probably shouldn’t say this. Every time I say, ‘I shouldn’t say this,’ the staff on the other side of the glass says, ‘You better say it now.'”

That was Rush Limbaugh’s reaction to the newest conservative “manifesto,” the Mount Vernon Statement. While hastening to add that those behind the declaration were “all good people,” Rush offered a thoughtful monologue that was classic Limbaugh:

“And when we start competing with ourselves over this kind of stuff in the midst of this golden opportunity – we don’t need a bunch of competing programs that are designed to elevate individuals in a movement,” Rush said. “We need something that’s going to advance the movement. And that’s going to be, I think consistent with people who have that as an objective.

“Now, people ask, ‘Well, what would you do?’ I’ve spent 21 years saying what I would do. How could I synthesize it here?” he said.

Last Friday, one of his callers suggested that Limbaugh’s in-house musical parodist, Paul Shanklin, compose a spoof of “Camelot,” with all the roles played by Obama and company.

“Well, who would Obama be?” asked Limbaugh. “Queen of the fairies?”

On a special Presidents Day “open line” show Monday, Rush unveiled the comical result (FREE audio).

Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity announced that his first book in six years – “Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda” – will be out in late March.

Hannity promises “to show how conservatives can unite behind this country’s most cherished principles and act now to get America back on the right track – while we still can.”

He also announced plans to broadcast live from towns and cities around the country during the run-up to the November 2010 mid-term elections. Tour dates and pre-order information for “Conservative Victory” are now up at Hannity’s official website.

Michael Savage

Michael Savage stirred controversy within the conservative tent this week, when he called Sarah Palin “unelectable” (FREE audio).

Speaking of electability, Savage spoke to fellow talk radio host turned Senate candidate J. D. Hayworth on this show this week. Savage admitted that in 2008 he had “sadly” endorsed Hayworth’s current opponent, John McCain, even though he felt the long time Arizona Senator was “a dunce, a dummy and a walking schmuck.”

Savage also warned this week that America has entered a new “Dark Ages,” in an extended monologue he called, “From the Barber of Seville to the Barbarians on the Hill” (FREE audio).

Mark Levin

“This is a race about a conservative versus a phony, so let me be the first national host to say it.”

Mark Levin also endorsed J.D. Hayworth this week, telling listeners, “McCain is not a solid conservative. You want to send a signal that will be heard all over the world? Elect J.D. and defeat McCain.”

On Monday, Levin treated listeners to a memorable rant against “climate change,” as more evidence came in exposing the “global warming” hoax (FREE audio).

When Levin was away on Wednesday, Tom Marr of WCBM in Baltimore manned the mic. He spoke to author Robert Spencer of JihadWatch.org, who talked about changes in the level of Jewish voters’ support for Obama.

Farah talked about the misunderstandings and misrepresentations surrounding the Tea Party movement. Speaking of “myths,” he and callers discussed the crumbling “consensus” around “global warming” and their concerns about Obamacare.

Substitute host Jerry Agar also sat in for Liddy this week. Among other things, Agar talked about his recent trip to Haiti, and offered an enlightening comparison between poverty there and in America.

Not one, but two, anti-Glenn Beck books are coming out later this year. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, and Alexander Zaitchik of Salon.com, are both signed to pen unflattering tomes about Beck – while Beck himself has announced he has a new novel coming out in May.

Meanwhile, in a simmering feud between MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Newsbuster’s Brent Bozell about “true conservatism,” Beck’s name almost inevitably came up as a point of contention.

Scarborough wrote: “I called Brent to helpfully explain that my new radio show outrated Glenn Beck’s every month head-to-head in America’s top market (which is also both of our home markets.)”

“David Frum likes to mock you talk radio guys as the say-it-louder Republicans,” Steyn said. “David Frum’s thesis is that you guys think there’s nothing wrong with Republican Party politics in 2008, it’s just that you didn’t yell it loudly enough. And Bill Maher is advancing a kind of Democrat version of the same thesis.”

Benoit warns talk radio fans to watch out for the FCC’s “Future of Media” project. According to Benoit, this endeavor is part of the left’s ongoing campaign to strengthen “localism,” which many conservatives are convinced is code for the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine.

Under localism, the federal government could restrict the number of radio stations one company or person could own, and demand the establishment of “advisory boards” of “community activists” and do-gooders to intimidate radio station programming directors and hosts.

“This move toward localism will make it extremely expensive for radio stations to run nationally syndicated talk shows, such as Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh,” writes Benoit. “[T]his new FCC initiative ‘investigating’ the future of news media is all about controlling the news media and censoring the conservative voice.”